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Dessert

Sponge Cake Mould

A chilled dessert made with sponge cakes, macaroons, milk, gelatine, eggs, sugar, brandy, vanilla, and cherries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Sponge Cake Mould

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mould

  1. Rinse a plain mould with cold water.

  2. Decorate the bottom with halves or rings of cherries.

  3. Fill the mould about three-quarters full with broken sponge cakes and macaroons.

Make the custard

  1. Dissolve the gelatine in nearly boiling milk.

  2. Add the eggs and stir by the side of the fire until thickened.

  3. Add sugar and vanilla essence to taste, then pour into the mould.

Set and serve

  1. Turn out when cold and serve with custard.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Brandy + vanillatop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Brandy + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sponge cakes
Provide the bulk and soft, absorbent body of the mould.
Macaroons or ratafias
Add almond-like flavour and a chewy, crumbly texture among the sponge.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that binds the mould together.
Eggs
Thicken the milk custard through gentle heat-setting, giving body and richness.
Leaf gelatine
Sets the liquid custard so the mould holds its shape when turned out.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the eggs and milk.

The step that matters

Stir the eggs over gentle heat until thickened. Eggs thicken only gently; if the mixture gets too hot it can curdle or scramble, leaving a grainy custard instead of a smooth set.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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